Petion v. Maryland State Police

The
Maryland State Police, Sgt. Sean L. Harris, Trooper First
Class Jacob R. Burno, Trooper First Class Michael A. York,
Corporal Michael S. Cox, and Trooper First Class Charles M.
Tittle (collectively "State Defendants") filed a
motion to dismiss in response to this civil rights complaint
against them. (ECF No. 26.) The Elkton Police Department and
Officers Ziegenfuss and Hoffman (collectively "County
Defendants") moved to dismiss or for summary judgment in
response to the claims asserted against them. (ECF No. 28.)
Plaintiff Berry Petion opposes both motions. (ECF No. 31.) No
hearing is required to resolve the matters pending before the
court. See Local Rule 105.6 (D. Md. 2016). For the
reasons below defendants' motions shall be granted and
the complaint shall be dismissed.

Background

In his
complaint, as supplemented, Petion alleges he has been
systematically harassed and targeted for stops by Maryland
State Troopers and the Elkton, Maryland police. (Compl. at 2,
ECF No. 1.) Petion describes "a state trooper"
following him through the town of Elkton when he was on his
way to work in Pennsylvania. (Id. at 3.) He claims
he was followed "well into the State of Delaware"
and after ten to fifteen minutes of being followed, the State
trooper turned on his emergency lights signaling Petion to
stop. (Id. at 3.) Petion stopped off a ramp on
Interstate 95 in Delaware. (Id.)

He
claims the officer's "aggressive handling caused the
reinjury of [his] right knee" and his right shoulder was
popped out of joint. (Id.) Petion claims that he
provided no resistance and complied with commands he could
hear over the noise of the traffic. He states that he
complained about the pain being inflicted upon him as the
officer searched him, but his complaints were ignored.
(Id.)

During
this stop Petion claims that Delaware State Police saw what
was happening and asked what was happening. The Maryland
State Trooper explained that Petion had stolen the car and
did not have a license to drive. Petion states that the
Delaware troopers told the Maryland officer that he was
"far from Maryland and should and could not be making
the stop." (Id.) When the Delaware officers ran
Petion's plates they reported that everything came back
clear with nothing negative registering on their database.
(Id.)

The
Maryland trooper who stopped Petion was joined by another
female officer from Maryland and, after speaking in private,
they left the scene without providing Petion with the name of
the officer who stopped him. (Id. at 3-4.) He claims
he was left in handcuffs which were cutting off his
circulation and could not be removed by the Delaware
officers. The Delaware officer contacted a supervisory
officer in Maryland and had the trooper return to the scene
to remove the handcuffs. Although the Delaware troopers
directed Petion to a nearby hospital for his injury, he
states that he went to his job instead. He claims he was
fired from the job because he was tardy to an event that
night he was promoting that night worth over $12, 000 in pay.
He alleges he still has pain to his knee and shoulder and
requires surgery to correct the damage. In addition, he
states he has PTSD and anxiety. (Id. at 4.)

When
Petion contacted the Maryland State Police and asked about
filing a complaint with internal affairs he claims he was
told there was no such thing and that "they would simply
look into this matter." (Id. at 4.) He states
that he spoke with a lieutenant who was supposed to help him
file a complaint, but later that week Officer Harris of the
North East barracks pulled him over and harassed Petion about
filing a complaint. Petion alleges that Harris threatened
that "no good would come of this." (Id.)
Petion states that "as promised" Harris contacted
Petion's "P.O." in Pennsylvania and had a
warrant put out for his arrest. (Id.) He claims that
Harris and his partner then obtained a copy of the warrant
and began stalking Petion in order to get him put into
custody in Chester County, Pennsylvania so that Petion could
not move forward with the internal complaint. (Id.)

Petion
claims he was stopped three more times, which he states he
recorded and posted to his social media account because he
was afraid the officers would try to kill him., (Compl. at
5.) Petion's wife, Denise Petion, called the Maryland
State Troopers' North East Barracks, presumably to
complain. Petion alleges that his arrest by Pennsylvania
authorities was arranged by Maryland State Troopers in order
to insure his complaint would go nowhere. (Id.)

Petion
states that Officer Harris and his partner came onto his
property and were looking at his cars and ATVs, writing down
"useless information hoping to discover something."
(Id. at 5.) Petion states he came out of his house
to address the officers after seeing them on his home
security monitor. He claims the officers accused him of
swapping tags from an old vehicle to a new one and Petion
replied it was done legally. Petion states that Harris called
him a liar and warned that he "better not catch [Petion]
driving this piece of shit." (Id.) Earlier that
day Harris had accompanied Petion's probation officer on
a routine home visit. (Id.)

On
unspecified dates Petion was stopped two more times for
traffic violations. (Compl. at 6.) He claims that Harris
"again stalls my life by calling my P.O. in PA and
requesting] he put out a warrant for my arrest, stepping once
again out of line." (Id.) Petion was arrested
on the warrant and lost his job paying $25 per hour. He
claims that Harris and his partner got the warrant sent to
them personally "just to stalk me and make the
arrest" and told Petion, "you should just get your
shit and get out of Cecil County." (Id.)

On an
unspecified date Harris came to Petion's home, which was
recorded on Petion's home surveillance equipment. When
Petion's wife went out to confront the officers, Harris
asked if Petion still had swapped tags on their vehicles.
Petion's wife then presented paper work to Harris which
Harris returned to her prior to leaving without further
action. Petion claims that Harris continues to drive up and
down their dead-end street. (Id.)

On an
unspecified date, Petion states that Harris impounded his ATV
because someone had tried to steal it and it needed to be
processed for fingerprint evidence. Petion argued that it was
impossible to steal the vehicle since it was out of gas and
Petion had the key, but the officers insisted on taking it
with them. (Id. at 6-7.) They told Petion that he
would be able to get it back after two to three days, but a
week later when Petion called he was given excuses about why
he could not get the ATV back. (Id. at 7.) When
Petion went there to get his vehicle back on a date
unspecified he was arrested by an Elkton Police officer on a
warrant for driving without a license. He states he
"returned after the commissioner deemed this
ridiculous" but was still "given the run
around." (Id.) When Petion called Harris's
supervisor he states that the supervisor told him that Harris
and his partner were "in the right" and they were
investigating whether Petion had stolen the vehicle.
(Id.) Petion was then told he must bring in
"proof of sale" to prove the ATV was his.
(Id.) He claims he kept calling "internal
affairs" and going to the barracks until he got his
property returned two and a half weeks later. Petion
determined that the vehicle had been completely disassembled
while in the custody of the State Police and it had been
assembled incorrectly, with missing screws and broken
brackets. He states that it cost him $200 in repairs and that
the value of the ATV dropped by $670. The confiscation also
kept Petion from entering a race with an award of $2000.
(Id.) .

With
regard to the Elkton Police Department, Petion relates that
the first incident he can remember involved a female officer
whom he does not name and who on an unspecified date pulled
him over and accused him of trying to run into her car with
his car. (Compl. at 8.) On another date unspecified Petion
states that the Elkton Police used two cars to stop him,
called a . K-9 unit to walk around his "new 2016 Dodge
Mustang tearing the leather seats and breaking the glove
compartment." (Id.) During the search Petion
claims the officers asked him how much dope he had to sell to
purchase the car. Petion claims it was one of the coldest
days of the month and he was made to sit on the side of the
road handcuffed while officers laughed. Nothing was found,
but Petion states they gave him a ticket anyway.
(Id.)

On
another unspecified date, Petiton states that he was on his
way home when "an unmarked car and several marked ones
came to a screeching hault [sic] directly in front of
me." (Compl. at 8.) Officers exited the cars with guns
drawn and told Petion they would shoot if he moved; Petion
and the passenger in his car had their hands up. He states
that first officer came to the driver's side door and
shouted "Don't fucking move," and held a gun to
Petion's face. (Id. at 9.) Petion noticed the
gun was ready to fire and was not "on safety."
(Id.) A second officer came to the passenger side
door with his gun drawn and commanded that the car be put
into park and the key removed from the ignition.
(Id.) Petion claims that at least five officers were
all screaming orders and he was reaching for the key as
ordered when the officer at the driver's side door pushed
his gun through the window and said he was going to shoot
Petion, but the officer on the opposite side of the car said
he had told Petion to hand him the keys. (Id.)
Petion states his wife and kids and his neighbors watched as
police dragged Petion and his passenger from the car across
the ground, handcuffed them, and threw them into the police
cars. (Id.) He states this was done after the
officers found less than a gram of marijuana in the car.
During the search Petion claims that officers ripped the
carpet and cut the seats in the car, broke the turn signal
switch, broke the passenger side visor, and broke the glove
compartment. The officers claimed there had been a call about
Petion pointing or brandishing a gun. After the search of
Petion's car did not locate a gun, he states he and his
female passenger were taken to the police station where they
were strip-searched. Again, nothing was located and Petion
was given a citation for marijuana possession and allowed to
leave. (Id.)

Petion
was stopped on two more occasions (dates of those stops not
provided) on the street where he resides. (Compl. at 10.) He
claims that although the officers who stopped him had stopped
him before, they asked him why he was in the area despite the
fact that Petion had told them multiple times he lived there.
(Id.)

Petion
claims that the Elkton Police drive around the town
recklessly and that he had been documenting this practice for
an article he intended to publish on his blog. Unnamed
officers from both the Elkton Police and the Maryland State
Police told Petion he was not allowed to record police and
made attempts to stop him from doing so by taking his phone
or recording device. (Id.) Petion states this
continued "even after [he] advised them [he] was a
public figure and only interested in public safety and my own
[safety]." (Id.)

On a
date unknown, Petion states he spoke with a female lieutenant
with the Elkton Police, who was dismissive of his claims that
officers harassed him. (Id.) He claims she told him
that all of the officers indicated they would stop him
because he did not have a license. When Petion asked if she
would "call them off if he could prove he had a license,
he claims she said it was more complicated than that.
(Id.) The officer then informed Petion that there
was no such thing as "internal affairs," that she
was the final stop for a complaint, and she had determined
that all the stops in which Petion was involved in were
legitimate. (Id. at 11.) Petion adds that before
disconnecting the call he told the officer that Officer
LaSalsa said that his '"kind wasn't wanted
around here[, ]' with a racial undertone."
(Id.)

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Petion
states that "two weeks later" on a date he does not
specify, his father-in-law&#39;s house was raided by Elkton
and State Police in execution of a warrant which Petion
alleges was not supported by any "real
information." (Compl. at 11.) He states the home was not
his legal residence, but was staying there and his name was
the only name on the warrant. He further alleges that the
search turned up a legal handgun and drug paraphernalia
located in a different room from his, but the police charged
him with it. Following his arrest, he claims police used the
newspaper and social media to claim he was drug kingpin
supplying drugs to Cecil County so that the jury pool would
be poisoned. (Id.) He claims he was told if he
didn&#39;t "take these charges" his "wife,
children, and sick father-in-law would be dragged into
this." (Id.) Petion "took the misdemeanor
charges and agreed to assist the DA ...

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